The disguised and masked Antifa, other radical groups, and individuals must be dealt with immediately by the police when they appear to just terrorize, injure, vandalize, and overall break the existing laws.

The announcement of the recent discovery of $6.2 million of taxpayer money by the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District (ECCFPD) is yet another indication of the structural under-funding problem that has plagued the fire district for years.

Over six million dollars of operating funds, enough to run two fire stations for a year each, simply fell through the cracks of the fire district’s bookkeeping efforts.

The underlying cause of this calamity is that the ECCFPD, both management and Board of Directors, failed to competently run a fire district. The fire district failed to keep track of the public’s money.

It is clear that appropriate accounting oversight has not been in place. It is not enough that the volunteer firefighter-turned-Fire Chief took on these chores, helped by an Administrative Assistant and a volunteer Board of Directors Finance Committee.

With the closing of fire stations, the increasing visibility of unfunded liabilities to retirees, and the cutting back on services to the public, the fire district management and oversight Board funneled all available funds towards firefighters. They failed to realize that it takes more than firefighters to run a fire district.

It takes someone to keep track of a very complex set of accounting books, too.

And, to add insult to injury, the public was treated to an August 11 article in the Brentwood Press entitled, “Unanswered fire calls increase in July,” emphasizing the failure of government leadership.

According to the story, the residents of the ECCFPD service area were without a responsive fire department for 15 hours during July. During this time thirty-one 9-1-1 calls received no response from ECCFPD.

The residents of Brentwood, Oakley, Discovery Bay, Knightsen, Bethel Island and the surrounding areas have an increased likelihood of death and injury, and homes and property are at increased risk, because of government’s failure.

The Grand Jury of Contra Costa County states this fact in its June Report 1706, “Funding the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District.”

As far back as 2015, two years ago, a government task force called the fire and emergency medical services level “inadequate.”

The Fire Chief needs to declare a “Local Emergency” under the California Emergency Services Act. Our California Legislature wrote this law as a tool for public servants when they find themselves is a situation where they are unable to provide adequate public services.

An area of 249 square-miles of Eastern Contra Costa County is clearly in a “Local Emergency” situation, experiencing conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property. These conditions are beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of ECCFPD, and require the forces of other government agencies.

In addition to this elevated risk to life and property, area property owners are beginning to be hit with increased insurance premiums. Some homeowners are seeing insurance premiums increase by 200% from just a few years ago.

It is time our Sacramento legislative representatives, Assembly Member Jim Frazier and State Senator Steve Glazer, change the property tax allocation rate so that East County fire services are funded at a rate that’s comparable to other parts of the county.

Call or email Assembly Member Frazier and State Senator Glazer and tell them to fix this problem.

Adequate funding for fire and emergency services needs to be provided before more people die, and more homes burn down.

Brentwood resident Bryan Scott is Co-Chair of East County Voters for Equal Protection, a non-partisan citizens action committee striving to improve funding for the ECCFPD. He can be reached at scott.bryan@comcast.net, or 925-418-4428. The group’s Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/EastCountyVoters/.

The Alzheimer’s Association estimates there are more than five million Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease and more than 15 million Alzheimer’s caregivers. As an Alzheimer’s Ambassador, it is my honor to represent them to our elected officials – Congressman Jerry McNerney and Assemblyman Jim Frazier.

In California, over 630,000 people live with Alzheimer’s dementia, over 19,000 in Contra Costa County. Since 2000, deaths from Alzheimer’s dementia have increased 186%, making it the fifth leading cause of death in the state. And, we’re spending $3.464B in Medicaid caring for people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Today, Alzheimer’s dementia is the only disease that we can’t prevent, cure or even slow its progression.

Gladys Jarvie, my mother-in-law, suffered for years with Alzheimer’s dementia. This funny, sharp, loving woman was oh-so-slowly consumed by Alzheimer’s dementia and eventually lost her life.

The Alzheimer’s Association’s most recent study predicts that by 2025, 840,000 Californians 65 and older will have Alzheimer’s dementia – that’s a 33% increase. Plus, the report predicts that Medicaid costs will increase even faster at 47%.

We need to support research to find a cure. That’s why I am urging Congressman Jerry McNerney to support a $414 million increase for federal Alzheimer’s research funding for FY2018.

It is only through adequate funding and a strong implementation of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease that we will meet our goal of preventing and effectively treating Alzheimer’s by 2025.

To learn more about this disease and how you can help combat it, please visit alz.org.

Volunteers assist veterans during a visit by Assemblyman Jim Frazier (center) during the 2017 Stand Down on the Delta at the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds, Aug. 11-14. Photos by Genevieve Mann

Dear Editor:

Delta Veterans Group would like to thank all of the volunteers that served for Stand Down on the Delta, 2017.

With your help, our community was able to provide services for over 260 veterans and their families.

Over 1,150 volunteers came together over 10 days to set-up, serve and tear-down our encampment. Over 5,800 meals were served in just four days.

Veterans received much needed supportive services, medical services, dental care, vision care, and mental health services. We also had barbers, beauticians, entertainment, spiritual guidance and much more over the four days. Plus – their animals were cared for onsite by C.A.R.T. – the Contra Costa County Animal Rescue Team.

We were also able to take over 40 veterans fishing on our Delta Shoreline…and yes, they caught a lot of fish…The largest fish was caught by a female veteran for the second Stand Down in a row…

We are some of the criminal defense attorneys who practice in Contra Costa County. We are the individuals who defend people accused of crimes. We have worked with the District Attorney’s Office for decades, and are in a unique position to know what qualities are most important for the District Attorney to possess.

We believe in the Constitution, in fairness and colorblind justice, and that every person accused of a crime deserves competent and zealous representation so that the police, the prosecution, and the system are held to the highest standard.

As the top law enforcement official in the County, we believe our next District Attorney should share these values. They should keep our community safe, but also do the right thing even when it’s not popular.

Paul Graves’ energy, ideas and fresh approach to the office as outlined in his public application to the Board of Supervisors reveals the dedicated and honorable public servant that we already know him to be.

What really sets Paul Graves apart is that he has dedicated his professional life as a prosecutor to Contra Costa County, and that he has earned the respect of all partners in the criminal justice system, because he treats every defendant as an individual and is fundamentally fair.

Paul Graves’ judgment has always made him stand out as a fair and ethical prosecutor we can trust. Even though we represent opposing sides in the courtroom, we know Paul Graves is everyone’s partner in fair and equal justice.

Paul Graves provides the character, experience, and integrity our community needs to move forward. We want the Board of Supervisors to know that as defense attorneys dedicated to the Constitution, fairness and colorblind justice, Paul Graves has our highest recommendation.

Colleen Gleason, a close friend and colleague of mine has written a wonderful endorsement on Facebook. I met Colleen 15 years ago and am humbled by her words. Here are a few sentences from my colleague’s social media post that I would like to share with you:

“I’m so excited and proud that my friend and mentor has decided to run for DA of our County. Paul was my homicide supervisor and currently runs the Sexual Assault/Family Violence unit. I also worked closely with him while he was the President of our Association – not only was he amazing at negotiating on behalf of our DAs, but he was instrumental in putting on a successful fundraiser for our local Rape Crisis/Children’s Interview Center every year.

Paul is the type of leader who inspires others; there is always a line of people seeking his solid advice born of experience and common sense. He is the type of leader that people want to follow; when he is heading a unit, other people want to work there…He has handled the pressures of our job in the public eye with grace and eloquence. But, more importantly to me, he is the type of person you can watch handling the little, every-day moments with kindness and integrity… the moments when the cameras aren’t on, when no one seems to be paying attention – the way he treats his staff, victim’s families, opposing counsel, his subordinates – those are the moments when he has impressed me the most.”

Our community was shocked and angered last week to hear that former District Attorney Mark Peterson pled guilty to felony charges related to the illegal use of campaign funds, leading to his resignation. This unethical and dangerous abuse of power by the elected District Attorney is deeply concerning to us and we write today in the spirit of working to rebuild trust between local government in Contra Costa, including law enforcement and the District Attorney’s office, and the community they are meant to serve.

We believe a critical first step to rebuilding trust is for the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors to engage in a fully transparent and community-centered process for appointing an interim District Attorney.

On behalf of Contra Costa County voters, we urge our Board to commit to a transparent, community-first process in making its selection of an interim District Attorney. In addition, we believe it is important for the Board to only consider applicants who have not filed to run in the June 2018 primary.

The District Attorney is one of the most powerful elected officials in county government and is the most powerful actor in our criminal justice system. The decisions made by the District Attorney impact every county resident, not just those who are directly involved in the criminal justice system. From determining when and what charges to file in individual cases; to making policy decisions that affect local communities as well as county and state budgets; to holding law enforcement accountable for unfair policies and practices, the Contra Costa District Attorney holds significant power and responsibility for the protection of our civil rights and freedoms.

For these reasons and more, it is critically important that our Board protect and uphold the right of the people of Contra Costa County to an inclusive and transparent process for appointment of an interim District Attorney.

In a transparent, community-first process, the Board of Supervisors should consider the following:

Publicly post a proposed process and timeline for appointment of an interim District Attorney;

Allow for public comment on the proposed process for appointment, consider comments, and post final process;

Only consider applications for interim appointment from individuals who are not currently running for District Attorney of Contra Costa County in 2018;

Solicit applications from lawyers in the community to apply for interim appointment and make submitted applications available for review by the public;

Hold public hearings at times convenient to working people with commute schedules, to receive input about nominees and other recommendations; and

Hold a final public hearing to vote for the interim District Attorney.

Due to the recent resignation and guilty plea by former District Attorney Mark Peterson, the people of Contra Costa County deserve transparency and fairness in the appointment of the interim District Attorney. It is incumbent upon the Board to begin to remedy the breakdown of trust between the community and government by taking the lead to ensure a fair and community-first process. We welcome the opportunity to support the efforts of our Board of Supervisors to achieve these very important goals.

My name is JR Killigrew and I’m a community development manager at MCE, the CCE which the County, Danville and Oakley recently joined. I have worked with the City of Antioch on their climate action plan in my previous role. I did want to follow up and thank you for following the CCE movement in Contra Costa County. MCE is always happy to serve as a resource to media to help provide accurate information. We recently saw May 4th article about community choice and the County’s decision to join MCE. We wanted to clarify a few items in the article.

1) Feeling the heat from environmentalists, residents, and politicians, Contra Costa County supervisors took the big step Tuesday of picking a solar power plant developer that could potentially help consumers on average cut monthly bills up to 55 percent.

MCE strives to keep its rates competitive with PG&E and MCE has lowered its rates twice in the last 12 months. Since MCE launch, MCE has been less expensive 70% of the time compared to PG&E. MCE’s actual generation rate is much lower than PG&E’s but with additional CCE fees that are collected by PG&E, MCE normally is around the same cost as PG&E.

2) Other supervisors were more impressed with MCE’s seven-year track record, financial stability and $25 million in reserves and capability of generating good paying union jobs.

MCE has $50 million in reserves.

3) Some 285,000 residents residing in unincorporated Contra Costa County could see electricity rates decline in comparison to PG&E rates. For a large solar power project generating 5 megawatts per hour, the average monthly bills could potentially decline from $105 per Megawatt Hour (MWH) to $85 per MWH.

We believe the point that was trying to be addressed was the difference between PG&E’s Feed-In-Tariff rates and MCE Feed-in Tariff rates. MCE currently offers solar developers $115/MWh which we purchase the electricity from the developer. This program is an opportunity to catalyze the local solar market place to create local jobs and ensure energy resilience. There is no correlation with our Feed-In Tariff program and our customers’ rates.

I hope this is helpful and please let us know if you have any questions.

The local taxpayers have been lied to, again, by big business, special interests and corrupt politicians. Save the ecology was the cry. Stop the over pollution of landfills with non-biodegradable materials they shouted. Help to save the earth was their mantra. All very noble causes, indeed.

However, when one uses these tactics just to reap a much larger profit, there is something that gnaws at the back of my mind, eats away at my common sense, irritates me to no end. They got their way by tugging at the heart strings of decent people and shaming the rest into falling in line. All done in the name of greed cleverly disguised as a god send to the ecology minded.

I am talking about plastic shopping bags and the fact that they were not banned as promised when pushing this law down our throats (like so many others).

They actually banned the retail outlets from providing these bags “free of charge”. One can get as many of these “demon bags” as one desires for a fee. Let me get this straight. I don’t get them free but I still get them, they end up in the same location and the only difference is that the consumer pays for them directly. Prices have not reflected the retailer’s gain but the profit margin certainly has. As I said, lied to again.

I believe that publicly financed “Sanctuary” States, Counties, Cities, and facilities for illegal immigrants are illegal, and they all should be prosecuted. In law one cannot harbor, assist, aid and abet, etc., anyone who has committed any criminal act – including of illegal immigrants. Those doing so are criminal “principals” under law, according to both state and federal laws.

The whole nonsense of allowing them to do so, under the guise of humanitarian and social necessity, are but criminally disguised acts that need to be brought to justice asap! We can no longer allow or justify the ‘bleeding hearts’ and illegal immigrants everywhere to dictate to us what is or is not legally right. They have to entirely be cut off from any related public funding, and now. And, any public cfficial criminally involved should immediately forfeit their position, and forever be barred from ever holding public office again.

Sure, give them their claimed “rights” to a prosecution and court system that America still has in place. Then they each should pay the ‘price’ for their violating our laws, to include incarceration, fines, and dispatching the illegals out of the USA. We must insist on upholding the laws against those who commit the crimes.